FF212: Rethinking Leadership with Sabine Gedeon

Welcome to Focus and Freedom with Val Lowe. I'm Val, the podcast for entrepreneurs who want to make an impact in their world and where we aim to help you clear the business clutter and create business bliss. Because we believe a clear mind and a clear desk means more time, more money and freedom. hey entrepreneurs welcome it's val low the focus of freedom podcast thank you for joining us today my special guest sabine gideon thank you so much for joining today oh absolutely thank you so much for having me val we've been talking about this for some time there's been a few bumps along the way and here we're finally here so excited we're finally here because we've got a great conversation today and not sure exactly where it's going to go, but it's going to be about your identity and shifting that and maybe a little bit about power within us and leadership.

So we've got some great things to talk about today. But Sabine, would you just share, please, just a little bit about yourself and your background? Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for that.

So I am Sabine Gideon. I wear a lot of different hats depending on the day, week or month. So I am an author, a speaker. I do executive and leadership coaching and strategy with organizations, as well as some career development coaching and training for women and emerging leaders.

Yes. I'm seeing hats being flown all over the place here with all that you've got going. Some really great stuff. And yes, she's just become an author.

Let's go maybe move into what happened before you actually became an author of your new book. Let's just go there. Just jump in if you don't mind, Sabine. Yeah, absolutely.

So I just released a book, Lead Her Ship Reloaded, Reimagining, Redefining and Rehumanizing Leadership. And so to give you a little bit of background, probably about 2020 or 2021, I got the download, if you will, for this title. But I didn't know what I was going to do with it. It was just one of those things that, you know, like, especially as entrepreneurs, we get ideas all the time.

And so I put it in my little Trello board or the Trello card for ideas and put it away. And then towards the end of 2021, as more conversation was being in the mainstream around the great resignation. And once they started digging into the data, they were seeing that it was more and more women who had left the workforce, of course, certain industries. But the narrative around the women leaving the workforce was, I don't know, maybe it was for me to pick up specifically, but I felt like it didn't do justice.

That the recognition that the reason why women were leaving the workforce was because not only were they handling a full-time job in the office, but they were handling a full-time job at home as well. For the most part, the pandemic impacted women where they were the ones who were likely to have to stay home with the kids and become school teachers. and in many cases, you know, take care of elderly parents or elderly relatives. And so a lot was falling on the shoulders of women who were already in their work environments, you know, carrying multiple loads to begin with.

And I just didn't feel like there was that level of appreciation versus, oh, well, now we know the source of the problem. It's the women. Again, that's my interpretation of the narrative. And so I kind of just sat with that.

I was just like, this isn't right. And then as time went on and we were rebounding, so to speak, it became very clear that the way that organizations and corporations had previously run, that they needed to shift. But having worked in HR for about 14 years in my career, different capacities in HR, I knew that most of these organizations were not positioned to make that shift because for so many decades, if you will, there has been these unwritten rules, this corporate culture.

And now within three years, we wanted or we were expecting for them to completely change. Like you don't move the Titanic in three days. And so that inspired me to reach out to my network individuals who were in the leadership development space and DEI in HR and as well as executive coaching and have conversations about, OK, well, what are you doing to change? Of course, it was all women who had either started their own businesses or they were leaders in organizations.

And I wanted to talk to them about what's really happening on the ground. These women were also trailblazers in many ways where they were creating they were having the tough conversations with executives They were having tough conversations with leaders And so I wanted to bring that conversation So long story short I did a series I did a podcast series called with the same name, Leadership Reloaded. And it was probably about close to 30 interviews that I did with these women.

And then kind of just said, okay, I've done it. It's done. And then earlier this year, it's just like, nope, Sabine, it's not done. The message is not done getting out there.

And so I started to think of how can I continue this building awareness, if you will, of the need for one, women to show up differently for themselves, two, for organizations to recognize the changes that are needed, and then also prepare the next generation. Gen Z, as we were talking about earlier, they get such a bad rap. because of the things that they want. But essentially, if we really take a step back and we look at it, it's what we all want.

We all want to be recognized for who we are. We all want to feel safe in our workplaces. They weren't asking for things that were beyond the scope of just human decency, but you would think they were. So long story short, the book really covers the challenges that women face and the opportunities that they have to make changes, the opportunities organizations have to make their workplaces a lot more inclusive, as well as how do you position and how do you prepare the next generation of leaders to be able to support the workforce that's coming in?

Oh my goodness. It's just so loaded as you called it, reloaded. And there's just so many different angles to look at in an organization and the changes. I'm just thinking leadership.

Leadership these days, I think, are having a lot of challenges trying to put everything together and make it all work. Yeah. Yeah. I think as a society, while we're not actively redefining leadership, but leadership is evolving.

And this impacts individuals and organizations, entrepreneurs in government, you name it, just like human beings, right? In order for us to continue to survive, if you will, on the planet, we have to evolve. And that means that a lot of our way of being needs to evolve as well. And I'm a firm believer, my leadership philosophy is that leadership is not attached to a title.

It's not attached to a role or a level. Leadership is actually an identity. It is innate in all of us. And I, you know, for all the arguments of our leader is made or a leader is born, I believe we're all born with leadership potential and capacity.

It's a matter of us finding out the specific sphere of influence that we have or the area that we are meant to lead and tapping into those innate skills. So while not everybody should be a CEO, you can be a leader in your community. You can be a leader in your home. You can be a leader in some different capacity.

So as we think about, you know, the last couple of years, let's just look at it globally. You know, we're more connected now. In some cases, we're more disconnected, but in many cases, we're more connected now globally than we have ever been. We are more sensitive to the needs and to the plights of others in other countries and other areas than we have ever been.

The first year of the pandemic, I got to say, I loved it. Not the being stuck in the house or anything like that, but I loved the fact that as a human race, we came together regardless. The days where 8 p.m.

was like the call where everyone would go out and they would make all the noise, to celebrate the nurses and the hospital staff who were changing shifts. You know, the way that people went out of their way to support their neighbors by getting groceries. Like we went back to the simplicity of what it means to be a human, what it means to be communal, what it means to be, you know, a race that is one and unified. And so that's the message that I hope continues on as we're looking at what does the evolution of leadership look like?

It can't be this individualistic mindset or way of being that it has been in the past. The workforce is requiring a lot more of that humanistic piece from an entrepreneurship perspective. We're required to show up for our clients in ways that we had not previously. government, all these other systems, if you will, are changing and evolving.

And that's partly because we recognize that the old way of being separate and being polarized, even though they're still trying to create polarized society, it's not working. It's not working. So I think as we move forward we going to see leaders who lead with heart first more so than who lead based on whatever personal need or greed or whatever you want to call it comes first Yeah someone can have such good points And I just wondering you talked about that everyone is a leader at some degree.

Maybe we could just go down that path a little bit more and how do we show up? And you and I have talked a little bit about identity and the power within us. how do we actually show up individually as we're going through this evolution of leadership and in the whole world, really? Yeah.

And that's a great point. So I'm talking about, or what I mentioned before was kind of like the overall evolution of leadership, right? But we all know that in order for change to manifest outwardly, it has to start inside, right? So a lot of the work, especially in the last year that I've done myself and that I've been supporting my clients through is really getting down to answering two core questions.

They're going to be simple questions, but they're not easy to answer. First question, who are you? And I've shared this before, you know, when I usually ask clients this, I get that, oh, I'm a mom, I'm a sister, I'm a da-da-da-da-da, and I'm the vice president of this. And okay, great.

Who are you? Once we've stripped away all the titles, once we've stripped away all the labels, all the identities that we've picked up over our lifetime, who are we? And the number of people who, and me included, when I first asked myself that question, the number of people who struggle with that question is, it's not crazy, but it is. It's crazy because most of us don't ever take the time to evaluate and to, you know, decouple, if you will, these identities with who we really are, the essence of who we are.

And you need to do that in order to answer the second question, which is what do you want? Because oftentimes, especially in the entrepreneurship space, I don't know about you, Val, like when I started the business, it was all about, oh, you know, make six figures and make seven figures and have this laptop lifestyle and all these things, right? So it was like the draw of, oh yeah, of course we wanted to help people. Of course we wanted to serve people, but also the draw of like, oh yeah, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to hustle hard to make these six figures just so I could say I'm a six figure coach or I'm a six figure this, six figure that.

And, you know, so many of us, and this is why people drop out of the entrepreneurship game because it's not about the six figures. It's not about the money. Heck, it's not even about helping people. It's about you discovering who you are, the essence of who you are and showing up in a way that is so authentic to you that people see that they are drawn to that and they say, you know what?

I want you to help me. And so I feel like going back to the pandemic, what it allowed a lot of people to do, or I think where people started was, what do I want? Right? As they were making these decisions to leave the workforce or change jobs or whatnot, it was based on what do I want, which is important.

It is important. But it's almost like when we haven't healed the wounds from our past, we'll just keep recreating it. It's a different cast. It's a different, you know, set, if you will, but it's the same, it's the same experience in the same environment.

And the only way that we can ever change our experience and, you know, what the way that life is playing out for us is when we change ourselves. And that requires us knowing who we are and what we want. Easy questions. Really, really, really digging deep into it.

Not easy. simple questions but not easy that's the way that you say they're simple all right yes yes yes as I go on a lot lifelong journey of who am I you know what am I bringing to the world I'm always asking that I mean you can always go a little deeper and get become a better person and be that authentic person that people are drawn to I mean that's you're so right yeah that's what it takes. And you have to succeed as an entrepreneur these days because there's so many people like, oh, all right, I'm going to put this website out.

And now I'm this expert and I'm this guru. And again, it's not about the results. I still say that entrepreneurship is the best professional development course I have ever taken. It's also the most expensive of professional development course.

But nonetheless, it is because the entire journey is self-discovery, the entire journey. And I think that it is amplified in entrepreneurship in a way that it's not in traditional work environments, because in traditional work environments, you have a job, you have a set goal, like you have a, you know, like your focus is so narrowed based on what the organization needs Whereas in entrepreneurship when you first start unless you have funding you doing all of the things You seeing all of your areas of weakness You seeing all of your strengths You seeing how you handle stress You seeing your anxiety.

I didn't even know I had anxiety until I became an entrepreneur. So it's just like everything is exposed. Everything about you is exposed. Well, okay.

So I just had this thought when you're talking about the entrepreneur journey is self-discovery. We need to redefine entrepreneurship. It's not about creating a business. It's about becoming more of ourselves and being more authentic in that discovery rather than business.

I love that. I love that. And you're right. You're absolutely right.

The identity of an entrepreneur isn't only attached to the business itself because there are entrepreneurs who are sitting in corporate offices. Yes, you're right. It's a mindset. It's the way of being.

Wow, gosh, Sabine, I'd like to dig deeper here, but I think that this has been enough for us to start thinking about and pondering on leadership and who we are and how we show up. I mean, this is great questions to always be asking ourselves. I'm wondering if there's one more thing you'd like to share with the audience. Yeah.

So as I believe we were talking initially, and this ties into all of it, right? So identity, leadership, entrepreneurship, and building out your career. One of the things I've learned in this last year, and I knew it because I've heard coaches say it, and I've experienced it to some level, right? That every new level that we get to, right?

So we've done the work of who am I? What do I want? We've done the work. We get there.

And then when we're ready to move to the next, you know, sometimes the assumption is just like, oh, it's just going to happen. And this journey is really about us becoming, literally becoming the next best version of ourselves. And so that's where the identity shift. You will find yourself, if you're doing the work, of course, asking the question, who am I?

Multiple times in your journey. Not because the answer is necessarily changing or in the sense that you're this person one year and then the next year you're someone else, but you're going to evolve. and it's important to know that, you know, the next level requires a different version of you. And so it's almost like we can't, whatever it is that we're trying to attain in that, what do I want question?

We can't attain it until we become the person who is sufficient enough in themselves to maintain whatever that thing is. And so for, this is encouragement really for the entrepreneurs. If you're at the place where you're kind of like, I was here, I felt good, things felt right. And now, you know, it just feels like I have no control.

And, you know, I'm in fetal position every other day. You're in exactly where you need to be. It's in those times during the journey that rather than looking outwardly of what we're not doing or what we're not achieving or the goals that we missed to say, okay, what is this situation telling me? about what's happening within me of where I need to be.

Is this the universe sending me a sign that it's time for me to shift, that it's time for me to grow, that it's time for me to let go, or better yet, that it's time for me to surrender this identity so that I can take on a new one. I was so good. So good. Because it is a journey.

It's like it gave us permission to be in that place where we are shifting and changing into something new. Yeah. Yeah. So good.

And Sabine, is there anything, we're going to have Sabine's information in the show notes along with her book title so that you can pick that up and learn more about what she's talked about. Where can people connect with you? Where's the best place? Yeah, great question.

So I'm one of those nerds. LinkedIn is my favorite hangout spot. My handle is my first name, last name, Sabine Gideon, as well as Instagram, Sabine Gideon. And then for sure, you know, you can connect with me through my website, SabineGideon.

com. Yes. Great. Great.

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today. Thank you, Val. I appreciate you having me on the show. Oh, it's been such a pleasure.

Entrepreneurs, get out there, become your next best version of yourself. And until next time, enjoy your journey. Thank you for tuning into the Focus and Freedom podcast. If you're interested in all things entrepreneurial and finding your business bliss, check out valo.

me. Head over to iTunes, like, subscribe, and review. Until next time, keep your head clean and your desk clear. Hmm.